Reproduced with permission of the artist, David Sankey
On December 9, 1965 an event occurred about 40 miles from Pittsburgh in a rural area of western Pennsylvania, that even now remains controversial for some, and mysterious to others.
At the time many people saw a brilliant object moving across the sky. The news media focused on a young boy, who while playing outside, said he saw an object fall from the sky into some nearby woods.
During my years of investigation into the matter, other witnesses who saw the object go down into the woods that day have been located. It has been stated that moments after the object fell, blue smoke rose up among the trees, but dissipated quickly. Many people say that the military, including members of the Army and Air Force, began to arrive in the area around the village of Kecksburg within a few hours after the reported landing. During the evening, reporters from numerous media sources went to Kecksburg to investigate the event. The area around the alleged impact site was cordoned off, and a search for the object was conducted in the woods. Neither civilians nor reporters were able to get near the spot where the object had reportedly fallen. Hundreds of spectators looked on from a narrow country road which circled around the area, unaware that the object appears to have fallen on the opposite side of the woods.
As time passed that evening, many people left disappointed that they couldn’t see the object. A few curious folks tried to sneak down into the woods, and later told me that they were tuned back by the military. Late that night, others say they observed a military flatbed tractor-trailer truck, carrying a large tarpaulin covered object, leaving the area at a high rate of speed. Reporters are among the many witnesses who verify that they saw military personnel in the Kecksburg area that night. The front page of the Greensburg, PA Tribune-Review county edition dated December 10, 1965, ran the headlines “Unidentified Flying Object Falls Near Kecksburg” and “Army Ropes Off Area.” The city edition of the same paper however, on the same day ran the headline “Searchers Fail To Find Object.” Officially, no object was found in the woods by searchers. It was suggested that the most likely explanation was that the brilliant object in the sky was a meteor. But word that something was removed from the site by the military that night, quickly circulated around the county. The Kecksburg incident remained a topic for area radio talk shows for years as it does today. As the years passed, I would receive various accounts from sources who claimed knowledge of the event. Many of those involved with the incident even today, wish to remain anonymous. Others have gone public and stand by their accounts. Some have faced personal attacks and ridicule. Many important witnesses have passed away.
Reproduced with permission of the artist, David Sankey
What we now know is that there are individuals who say that they went down into the woods that December day in 1965, before the military arrived, and came across upon a large metallic acorn shaped object partially buried in the ground. The device was large enough for a man to stand inside of it. The object was a bronze-gold color, and appeared to be one solid piece of metal, displaying no rivets or seams. At the back of the acorn shape was what witness Jim Romansky calls the bumper area.
Upon this area were unusual markings that Romansky says looked similar to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Romansky who has been a machinist for many years, says the object itself, looked as though it had been made from liquid metal and poured into a big mold. Since the object was impacted in the ground, the bottom portion was not visible, but what could be seen appeared well intact. The late John Murphy, was the new director of WHJB radio in Greensburg at the time, and is believed to have been the first reporter on the scene. His former wife says that she was in radio contact with him from the site that day, and that he told her that he went down into the woods and saw the object. Various informants have approached me with information. Some of these were people who had military or government affiliation and wish not to be identified at this time. Some information is expected to be revealed in the future, when these sources feel that they are safe to disclose what they know.
I have also received anonymous tips that pointed me in the right direction which helped to uncover other details. Before Unsolved Mysteries broadcast their story about Kecksburg in 1990, 1 was contacted by a former Air Force security policeman who told me that he was among the unit that guarded the object from PA, when it arrived in the early morning hours of December 10, 1965 at Lockbourne Air Force near Columbus, Ohio. He remembers extreme security measures at the time, and says that the object was only a the base for a short time, and then continued on to Wright-Patterson Air Force base near Dayton, Ohio.
We later learned that the object was allegedly sealed up inside a building at that base. After years of searching for government documents relating to this event, the only official record located was in the Air Force Project Blue Book files. Included in the report it was stated “A further call was made to the Oakdale Radar site in Pennsylvania. A three man team has been dispatched to Acme [Some residents not far from the site have an Acme mailing address] to investigate and pick up an object that started a fire.” While the report shows a lot of interest from various agencies concerning the aerial object, the report also indicates that the search found nothing. I have learned a lot about the Kecksburg case over the years, yet there remain many unanswered questions. I surely don’t have all of the answers.
Based on the accounts of multitudes of eyewitnesses which I have interviewed, I am convinced that an object did fall from the sky and apparently was removed by the military. Other witnesses say they saw NASA personnel at the scene that night also involved in the search. Many have asked me what I believe that the object was, and my reply still is “I don’t know.” As I have stated in the past, the two most likely possibilities are (1) a highly advanced man-made space probe with some reentry control capability (2) an extraterrestrial spacecraft. It has been confirmed that a faulty Soviet Venus probe identified as Kosmos 96, reentered in Canada on the same date, but at about 3:18 A.M. The sightings around Kecksburg occurred at about 4:47 P.M. many hours later. The Russian’s have told me that Kosmos 96 was not the source of what fell that day.
Other researchers have provided me with interesting but unverifiable information, that they have talked with former NASA sources who claimed to have examined the object which fell in PA, and determined it to be Soviet in origin. I have also talked with two former military men who are unknown to each other, that told me that during different years, and at different installations, they saw the recovery report on the Kecksburg object, and both said the report indicated that the object was extraterrestrial. From what the observers tell us, the object whatever it was, appeared to be slowing down a few miles before it impacted. During it’s flight, it appears to have made some turns, and those who saw the object drop from the sky, say it was moving quite slowly as it moved towards the woods. This might account for the good condition of the object itself, and the little damage at the impact site, except for trees which were reportedly knocked down. One question we must ask is what was it that fell which was so important that it caused the military to act the way they did at the scene? Various witnesses have now gone public confirming that armed solders were around the village, and were preventing anyone from trespassing near the crash site. Jerry Betters, a popular jazz musician from Pittsburgh, has gone public and told his story that soldiers aimed rifles at him and his friends, ordering them from a back road, as an Army flat bed tractor-trailer with an acorn-shaped object on board, was making it’s way up from a field. More recently, a prominent businessman contacted me and told me how he and his friends, then teenagers in 1965, tried to get near the site and were stopped my military personnel. He was frightened at the time of the experience, he thought the soldier was going to shoot him. Would armed soldiers respond to the scene of a meteorite crash? Who issued the orders for such an operation to take place?
Some of you are aware that I released a 92 minute video documentary on the incident called “Kecksburg The Untold Story” which I produced at my own expense. Many key witnesses are getting up in years, and some are not in good health. This was an opportunity for those involved to tell their own experiences about what occurred. For the first time some new and startling information is revealed about what allegedly occurred. Some of these people reveal details which strongly suggests a coverup. Also included in the video, are audio excerpts from the original 1965 WHJB radio broadcast “Object In The Woods.” One man details his claim of seeing a partially covered body inside a building at Wright-Patterson, at the same time the Kecksburg object was being examined.
Full-size mockup at Kecksburg, PA
This case is much to involved to cover here in detail. One good source of information on the case can be found in Kevin Randle’s book “A History of UFO Crashes.” The Kecksburg mystery remains. Was the object a man made space device or did we receive a visitor from outside of our world? Recently while visiting an area business, a worker recognized me and asked about the Kecksburg case. He told me that he has had an interest in the incident for years since he had a relative who worked at the pentagon at the time, and this relative had made a special trip to this area to investigate that matter. When this person asked his relative about what had happened, he refused to give any details, but his words were remembered “There was more to it then you’ll ever know.” I have no doubt that there are other individuals who have important information on this case. It’s time that the truth is revealed, regardless of what the source of the object was. It’s been 47 years, it’s time to break the silence. If you have any information and would like to talk with me confidentially, contact me by email or mail and we can make arrangements to communicate.
“Forty Years of Secrecy: NASA, The Military, and the 1965 Kecksburg Crash.” By Leslie Kean
As published in the (IUR) International UFO Reporter, Volume 30, Number 1. Published in October, 2005, by the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies.
http://www.jerrypippin.com/kecksburg%20(2).pdf
Conclusion of the NASA lawsuit concerning the Kecksburg incident
http://www.theufochronicles.com/2009/11/conclusion-of-nasa-lawsuit-concerning_10.html
Do You Have the Kecksburg UFO Photos?
This article was originally published in the 2013 Kecksburg “Old Fashion &UFO Festival “ booklet , July 26-28, 2013. This article is reproduced with the permission of Ron Struble of the Kecksburg V.F.D.
See the Kecksburg website @ www.kecksburgvfd.com.
The Kecksburg UFO incident-48 Years Later-Do you have the photos?
By Stan Gordon
Some of you reading this article remember that day nearly 48 years ago, when Kecksburg was put on the map. It was December 9, 1965, when a mysterious object fell from the sky into a wooded ravine not far from the fire station. Many of you have relatives, neighbors, and friends who were witnesses to what occurred that day so many years ago. Something fell from the sky and whatever that object was, it was apparently important to the military. They hauled it out of the area during the early morning hours of December 10, 1965, and took it to an Air Force base in Ohio.
Officially nothing was ever found or recovered, and only three Air Force personnel were listed as being on the scene that night. Many of you reading this know what you saw and experienced that evening. Someone out there has the evidence that could help close this case once and for all. It could be one of you reading this story. I have talked to various people over the years who told me they either saw or know of others who looked at black and white photographs taken that day in 1965. The pictures reportedly show the large metallic acorn shaped object lying in the woods, or photos of military trucks and soldiers who arrived on the scene around Kecksburg that evening. These photos could help solve the mystery of what took place so many years ago.
While today there is great interest and support concerning this local unsolved mystery, many people involved suffered much ridicule, and many went to their graves hoping there would be closure on this controversial event. Kecksburg is known throughout the world and has found its place in the history books. The citizens of Kecksburg, and the United States deserve to know the truth about what really happened in 1965. This is a part of the local Mount Pleasant Township history, and if you can help close this chapter, it’s time to come forward with the photographs or any other evidence or information.
I am looking for anyone who was at Kecksburg in 1965, who I have not spoken with. I would like to speak with any military personnel who were involved in the operation to recover or secure the object or those who have indirect knowledge of the case. I am also searching for a copy of a newspaper story concerning this case which I saw displayed in the glass case in the Kecksburg social hall during the 40th anniversary event. That news story was from one of the local community newspapers and showed I believe 3 military personnel who were involved with the search. The news story would have been published within a couple weeks of the December,1965 incident. If you have this news story please contact me.
I hope to see all of you at this year’s Kecksburg UFO Festival, and don’t forget the free UFO Conference on Sunday from 1:30-5 PM.
You can contact Ron Struble at the Kecksburg V.F.D. or me confidentially. I can be reached at 724-838-7768 or via e-mail at: paufo@comcast.net. Check out my website at: www.stangordon.info.
It’s time to release the photos!