6 March 1969
(The Gazette-Virginian, South Boston, Virginia)
Source: Fold3.com, Lindon, Utah
The whole article:
“A federal investigation into the mysterious light
objects which have appeared over Buggs Island Lake for the past two months have
been called for by Mecklenburg County Sheriff W. E. Newman.
Sheriff Newman, armed with newspaper clippings of the
sightings around John Kerr Dam, wrote Fifth District Congressman W. C. (Dan)
Daniel asking for an investigation into the strange lights which have flown
over the dam area.
The investigation would presumably be made by the U.S.
Air Force which has charge of investigating unidentified flying objects.
The first reported sighting came February 9 when an
ex-Army Sergeant living near the dam reported what he thought was a small plane
crashing into the lake. The last reported sighting came as recently as Tuesday
night (4 March 1969).
Newspaper reporters from Mecklenburg returned to the
dam Tuesday night in an effort to see the light and as they were approaching on
Route 4, some three miles from the dam, the light could plainly be seen in the
clear sky overhead.
The time of the sighting was placed about 8:30 p.m. As
reporters raced closer to the dam to get a better view, the object dropped down
out of sight.
Reporters then crossed the dam, and at about the dam’s
midpoint, the object appeared again, this time flying directly overhead at an
altitude of about 500 feet .
The object made no sound and was estimated to be cylindrical in shape and
slightly longer than an automobile.
They stopped their car for a better look and watched
the object for more than a minute as it travelled south down the lake.
They said that the object had two bright lights on its
extremities which pulsated in sequence. Both were white. As they blinked, a
dimmer light seemed to pace back and forth from the two brighter lights. It was
travelling at a speed well below 100 miles an hour, they said.
As the object disappeared, the reporters left the
vicinity of the dam to travel east on Route 4, about a mile from the dam to a
country store.
There ex-Army Sergeant Phillip Spencer, who has
claimed to have seen the light on numerous occasions, was waiting with a 35 mm camera. While reporters
were loading the camera with film, several persons standing nearby spotted the
object again over the dam. Only this time it was moving in an opposite
direction from which it was observed only minutes before.
Reporters went back to the dam in an effort to
photograph the light, but when they reached the dam, the light had vanished.
Hundreds of Mecklenburg County persons have viewed the
lights, some as long ago as last November, but the sightings have come with
increasing frequency in recent months. All descriptions of the objects have
been identical, particularly those who saw the object at close range.
Basically the description is as follows:
The object is slightly larger than an automobile; it
has lights which pulsate and sometimes change colors from bright red to white
to blue; it makes no sound; it is capable of flying at speeds far faster than jet
aircraft and yet hover; it is most frequently seen around the John Kerr dam; it
appears in the early evening hours.”
https://www.fold3.com/image/6530176
Kerr Lake Guide article:
“History of John H. Kerr (Buggs Island) Lake”:
Kerr Lake Guide article:
“History of John H. Kerr (Buggs Island) Lake”:
Wikipedia article: “Kerr Lake”:
Aerial view of Kerr Lake (officially John H. Kerr Dam
and Reservoir, also known as Buggs Island Lake) (Clarksville, Virginia, is
located just west of Kerr Lake) (wikimedia.org)
(wikimedia.org photo)
Satellite photo of Clarksville, Virginia (tageo.com)
(tageo.com photo)
