Kecksburg UFO

Case File: Kecksburg UFO
Location: Kecksburg, Pennsylvania
Date: December 9, 1965
Description: Kecksburg is an unincorporated community in Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It is located along Route 982 in a heavily wooded area about thirty miles southeast of Pittsburgh at an elevation of 1,200 feet.

Map of the crash site kecksburg — Map of the crash site

Case[]

History: On December 9, 1965, a bright light flashed across the sky over Canada, and over the Northeastern United States, which was seen by over thousands of eyewitnesses. It was described as a fireball which crashed in the woods and later described as a large metal bell-like structure the size of a Volkswagen with Egyptian hieroglyph-like markings etched into it, about eight feet long, and was in the shape of an acorn. When it was in the sky, it was described as an orange fireball with a tail on its end.
In Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, Robb and Ray Landy were riding their bicycles when they saw the object fly over them. In a creek nearby, another local boy named Randy Overly also saw it fly over him. Nearby, Nevan and Nadine Kalp were playing in their yard when it flew overhead and crashed into a ravine. Afterward, their mother, Frances, heard an emergency broadcast on the radio and called in to say that it appeared to be part of an airplane, not a full one as the broadcast claimed. A few minutes later, she got a call from a man from the US Navy and was told to watch around the area of the crash, and to call them back. The operator then came on the line and told that the police were arriving. State troopers and two unidentified men soon arrived at the Kalp home and Frances told the operator where the crash site was located. The object crashed about half a mile from the Kalp home.
Search teams were called in to locate the actual crash site. Volunteer fireman Jim Mayes led one team of state troopers to the ravine and located the site from an overlook above the ravine after Jim noticed several blue flashing lights coming from the area. Thirty volunteer firemen began searching for the object in the ravine. James Romansky, a volunteer fireman, was part of the search team who located it, and he did not believe that it was an aircraft and noticed strange writings on it. The men were then told to leave the site as the military arrived. It was cordoned off by them, and all of the civilians were refused entry. A local farmhouse owned by Lilian Hays was taken over by them and although the officials made several phone calls to unidentified individuals, no calls turned up on her bill.

Kecksburg ufo4 mysterious object — The Mysterious Object at the crash site

A teenager named Bill Weaver was one of many spectators that tried to get a glimpse of the object. He saw four men carrying a large box into the ravine, but it appeared too small to fit the object, and some believe that the military was removing something else. Bill and the other spectators were then told to leave the area. Meanwhile, back at the fire station, James Romansky and the others were refused to enter it, which was being used as a military post. At that same time, James saw a covered object that he believes was the mysterious one on a flatbed truck. Lilian Hays' son, John, believes that he also saw it leaving on a military convoy. No one knows where it went to afterward.
Background: Kecksburg is an unincorporated community in Mount Pleasant Township, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. It has just 250 residents in 1965. It is about thirty miles south of Pittsburgh. The ravine that the object crashed into was located less than a mile from Kecksburg village and stretched across eight-hundred yards.
Investigations: The object is one of the most hotly disputed objects since the Roswell Crash. Articles about the crash have appeared in Sky & Telescope and The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. A local reporter from the radio station WHJB at the crash site named John Murphy reported that the military had seized all his wife's images of the object except one roll of film. He later went on to write the radio documentary, Object in The Woods. He was later intimidated by two men claiming to be government officials. In 2003, the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) featured a documentary on the mystery which revisited the site of the crash and talked to witnesses. In 2005, NASA changed its opinion on the object from a meteor to a fallen Soviet satellite called Cosmos 96. This case has been investigated by Stan Gordon, a UFO researcher, and has examined several theories about what the object may have been. One of the theories was that the object was a meteor, but that was discredited because of how it entered the atmosphere and into the ravine. Stan believes that it was a UFO, and that the government knows what it was. Another theory was that it may have been space debris, but that theory is unconfirmed. Stan Gordon believes that it was either a space probe from another country that was highly technical for 1965, or that it was a UFO from outer space. This case was also investigated and covered by documentaries on the Sci-Fi and History Channels.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the September 19, 1990 episode.
It was also featured on the Discovery Channel series Conspiracy.
Results: Unresolved. Several theories have recently been put forth to explain what the object was. In 2015, two researchers announced that they believed it was a GE Mark 2 re-entry vehicle. That was in the nosecone of several rockets that were used in the 1960s. It was also allegedly used to spy on the Russians. It had jets that could have allowed it to make the turns that the object was seen doing by eyewitnesses. Also, it was made of copper, which could explain the green flames seen by some witnesses. Finally, it had markings on it which could be misinterpreted as foreign markings (as described by witness James Romansky). However, the military continues to insist that the object seen by eyewitnesses was a meteor. A model of it originally created for the show is now on display near the Kecksburg Fire Station.
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