65 HS1-834228961 62-HQ-83894 Section 004

• •IN RJ!PLY, PLEASE R>!FER T O
FILE No. _____ _
B!eheral ihtr.eau of lttu.estigatum
11tniteb itates il.epartm.ettt of iJwrtitt
Did You See It? Well, What Was lt?By WELLS CALD'WJ:LL
The strange object seen travel
ing acro11 the heave_ns just after
sundown last night has caused
widespread speculation here in
Radford as well as in other sec
tions of Southwestern V.irginia
and Eastern Tennessee.
Exactly what the mysterious
traveler was, no one here seems
to know, and the number of con
flicting reports have only added
to the confusion.
This much seems to be cer
tain: the object appeared over
the Southwest horizion shortly
before 8 p. m. and was moving
eastward. Also, it was black, or
at least part of it was.
A Radford man, Jiving in the
east end section, asked that his
name not be used, but give this
version:
"I was working in the yard
when I glanced up and saw a
long black thing flying across
the sky. It came from the direc
tion of Pulaski. It looked a
great deal like a rounded stick
of wood which was burning in
front. The object was trailed by
either vapor or smoke and faded
from view when it seemed to be
directly overhead-."
Mrs. Alfred Tolley, of 1702
Seventh Street, west, reported
her 12-year-old son, Albert, was
playing next door and noticed
the object. She said her son had
been studying comets in school
and called her attention to the
phenomenon, thinking that it was
either a comet or a meteor.
"The strange looking object",
she said "was long and black
with a light on the front end. It
seemed to follow the air route
from the directon of Pulaski,
later turning and heading toward
Blacksburg. There was a light
on the front end and great long
streaks of fire. We saw it for
about 10 minutes."
Miss Joe Stewart, of the Rad
ford College biology department,
said she saw the object and as
sumed it was the exhaust from
an airplane. She added that she
was ''in no way alarmed."
Fred W. Hurt, of Fourth and
l~ _i ?)'l'1~ - /7 f
-?'-'CLOStJRc
Harvey Streets, gave this ver- 1to be traveling too slowly for
sion: "At the first appearance it
looked like a comet. I recall
Halley·s comet and it resembled
that. There was, at first, a
bright spot ahead of the stream
of fire, but the trail didn"t look
so bright ~hen the object reach-
ed its zenith.
"It appeared to be moving slow-
Jy at first and later very fast,
which indicates that it was quite
a distance away when I first
saw it. The object seemed to
follow a straight path, however
it v~ered a little once - in sort
of ;l.n arc - and then straighted
out agin. I heard no noise."
Mrs. James D. Heinline. of 60
Jackson Street, Monroe Terrace,
said slie and her husband watch-
e6 it with some neighbors.
"It looked like a long black
cigar which was on fire", she
stated. "We heard a faint sound,
which might have been a small
motor. At times it looked like
an airplane 'way, 'way off. J
thought at first it might be· a
comet or a meteor, but it seemed I Bedford. 1
1
I
FBI - R!CHHO m
M.~Y 1 61949
l
that. It appeared in the sou th
west and traveled toward the
east. There was a kind of red
dish looking smoke about it."
Miss Dody Jones, of Harvey
Street, reported watching the
phenomenom with a group of
children in the neighborhood.
She said it looked like "what I
think a comet would look like."
"It was a red flare", she con
tinued, "which was light on the
front. It moved slowly from
the Southwest and traveled what
seemed to be straight up. It
curved toward the east and the
fire strealcs trailing it got longer
as they began to fade out."
L. B. Graybeal, of Christians
burg, a former Air Force pilot,
estimated the altitude of the
object at 6.000 feet. He said
there was a light from the object ,
as it passed over and a "roaring i
sound."
Other reports have been re- 1
ceived from as far West as Kings- 1
port, Tenn., and as far East as