Monday, 19 November 2018
UFO Case Directory (Close Encounters):
“Portage County UFO Chase
April 17, 1966
Ravenna, Ohio”
(NICAP.org)
The whole UFO case report:
“Brad Sparks:
April 17, 1966; Portage
County , Ohio , bet. Atwater and Randolph , Ohio , to Pittsburgh ,
Penna.
5-6:10 a.m. (EST). E of Akron Deputy Sheriff Dale F.
Spaur and associate Wilbur Neff saw a 30-45 ft metallic object approach over the
treetops from the woods, bathing the witnesses and the whole area in light
while making a transformer-like hum, then headed E and they gave chase in the
patrol car at speeds up to 105
mph for 85
miles . Officer Wayne Huston about 35 miles to the ESE saw
the object he described as ice cream cone-shaped, point downwards, approach
from the W and pass overhead at about 800-900 ft height with paur and
Neff in pursuit to the SE and he joined them near Unity, Ohio, with the object
about 1/2 to 3/4 mile ahead of them, reaching the Penna. state line at 5:35.
They lost sight of object at Brady Run Park
regained it in Bridgeport ,
Penna. At about this time officers Lonnie Johnson and Ray Esterly in Salem,
Ohio, saw 3 jet fighters [two F-102’s] attempting to intercept a bright object
at about 10,000-20,000 ft
about 25° elevation to the E for about 2 mins. In Conway, Penna., at 6 a .m. they met with officer
Frank Panzarella who had been watching the object for 10 mins to the E or SE
which he described as 25-35 ft
half-football-shaped object at about 1,000 ft height (or 1,500-2,000 ft according to the
others), when it stopped in the NE towards Harmony, Penna, then rose. They
watched as the object climbed to about 3,500 ft to the left of and level with the
quarter moon in the ESE (which was at about azimuth 116° elevation 14° and 11%
illuminated at 6:00 a.m.) and Venus (at 122° azimuth 22° elevation) and it
passed near a 707 airliner taking off from Pittsburgh Airport and disappeared
shooting up vertically at about 6:10. (Sparks ;
Hynek UFO Exp ch. 8; NICAP)
Fran Ridge:
If this incident seems familiar to you, just maybe you
saw the motion picture, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. Investigated by
NICAP’s William Weitzel, this report, also known as the Spauer/Neff Case, was
the basis for the UFO ‘chase’ in this film. This case involves police
witnesses, confrontation, light beam, brilliant illumination, light engulfment,
sound, cat and mouse chase, with rapid upward departure. Special thanks go out
to Mark Rodeghier of CUFOS for providing the documentation and to Loy Pressley
for converting them into text so I could make the web pages.
Dr. James E. McDonald:
Ravenna, Ohio calls for reevaluation not only on the
scientific grounds involved, but also to avoid unfairly subjecting to local
public ridicule the several officers who have testified. (Compare Bertrand & Hunt in the Exeter case) The
available evidence (especially Wm. Weitzel’s extensive report for NICAP) seems
to me to make the astronomical explanation, that now stands as the official Air
Force evaluation, quite unreasonable.
Recording Notes: *
20.
04.17.1966. Deputy Sheriff Dale Spaur and Mandalay Village Police Chief,
Gerald Booker, give their narratives of the UFO chase incident on WKSU Radio.
21.
04.17.1966. Deputy Sheriff Dale Spaur is interviewed by Marc Candusso
from the Flying Saucer Investigations Committeeof Akron, OH on April 19, 1966.
22.
04.17.1966. Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., USAFProject Blue Book, takes
Officer Dale Spaur, Officer Barney Neff and others statement at the Ravenna, OH
police station on May 11, 1966. Quintanilla tells them they saw either a
satellite or the planet Venus.
23.
04.17.1966. NICAP’s William
Weitzel asked Dale Spaur, etc., following their meeting with Major Hector
Quintanill [sic], Jr. for
their reaction as to Quintanilla’s explanation of their case.”
NICAP.org presents U.S. government (U.S. Air Force)
documents that pertain to the UFO case.
Related posts:
(tageo.com photo)