The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (Nicap)

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# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010001-0

# Approved For Release 2001/04/02 Dispatcher, Officers, Watch Flashing Objects

Over the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, in an area about 60 miles in diameter, UFOs were seen on several occasions during the week of October 21-27, 1962. On the night of the 25th between 6:40 and 8:15 p.m., police officers in Delta and Cedaredge observed two bright objects "shaped like an inverted umbrella with a number of bright tail-like appendages." [cf., September 24, 1959, Redmond, Oregon; Section V.] Cedaredge Marshal Ed Marah and State Policeman Richard Kuta (who later declined to answer NICAP questions) watched the UFOs through binoculars, and said they changed color, at various times appearing blue, white and orange.

The sighting was confirmed to NICAP by another witness, Mrs. Helen G. Mitchell, Police Dispatcher at Delta County Court House. [3.] At 6:40 p.m., while on duty, she received a call from the Civil Defense Coordinator advising her to look out to see an object in the sky. Through the window of the Dispatcher's office she saw to the NE a bright white object, which changed color rapidly, "flashing or blinking."

"Since I was on duty in the Radio Room," Mrs. Mitchell told NICAP, "and under the rules of the F.C.C., I am unable to give any information which I received via short wave radio from Units reporting to me on these sightings."

The object she saw turned reddish, then to dark glowing red, and back to "dazzling white." It rose and lost altitude jerkily while moving slowly SW toward her position, then stopped and hovered for about 25 minutes. Finally it drifted out of her line of sight to the SE. She thought it might be some type of balloon "because of the jerky way in which it rose and lost altitude." However, weather balloons are only faintly visible, rise quickly

and burst, and do not hover for 25 minutes. Larger high-altitude research balloons do remain in flight for days, but are not brilliantly lighted. Nor do they normally operate in pairs, as reported by Marshal Marah and Officer Kuta.

## Disc On Edge Reported

During the early morning of September 26, 1963, a UFO was sighted by people in scattered locations around the San Francisco Bay area. Paul Cerny, Chairman of the Bay Area NICAP Subcommittee, conducted an investigation and located nine witnesses. (The sighting was reported September 26 in the San Jose Mercury News, Los Altos Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle.) A particularly detailed report was obtained from Officer Galen Anderson of the Sunnyvale Police Department, who observed the UFO for about 45 seconds.

About 4:20 a.m., Officer Anderson was patrolling the streets in a squad car. A radio call from other officers alerted him, and he stopped to watch the UFO. The object was traveling from east to west at an elevation angle of about 45 degrees, at about the speed of a propeller-driven aircraft. The leading edge was brightly illuminated, the main body grayish in color, with a small point of light visible on it. (See sketches and description prepared by Bay Area Subcommittee). The UFO then made a turn toward the northwest, was momentarily visible edge-on, then quickly disappeared from view.

In nearby Monta Vista about 4:15 a.m., George W. Scott was on the job as a supervisor at the Permanente Cement Company. One of the work crew called his attention to a strange object in the sky, and he watched its flight for about a minute. To him, it appeared that the UFO stopped briefly each time the small body light pulsed, then moved 3 to 4 degrees between pulses. The UFO continued on a westerly course, disappearing behind the coastal mountains.

This object appeared larger than a full moon, according to Officer Anderson, about basketball size at about 8 feet away. It appeared as a disc on edge, with about 3/4 or more of its outline showing. The trailing 1/4 of the circle, if it were there, appeared more or less invisible. Police Officer Lt. Haag told Anderson that he saw what appeared as heat waves in this quarter area and further to the rear. The disc appeared grayish in color except when the small spot of light ("A") lighted up about every 3 to 4 seconds. The color then changed to yellowish - white, some trace of orange, but predominately along the front leading edge portion ("B"). This produced a pulsing effect every three or four seconds. This in turn gave an eerie lighted haze or mist illumination of the area just outside the disc circle itself as if it were glowing or surrounded by a gas, or thin cloud, halo, etc. At each 3-4 second pulse, the small inner bright light would move around erratically to various new positions within the disc area.

The object was visible about 45 seconds to Officer Anderson and traveled in a perfectly straight line over Sunnyvale toward Los Altos, then suddenly made a turn and was momentarily edgewise and vertical to Anderson's vision, then immediately disappeared from sight. Officer Anderson and Lt. Haag were only about a third of a mile apart at the time and Officer Girard was perhaps a mile to their northeast. Speed of the object was about that of a propeller driven military aircraft, elevation about $ 4 5^{\circ} $ from Officer Anderson, estimated altitude 4000-6000 ft., visible about 45 seconds. Brighter than full moon.