COMMENTARY BY GUEST BLOGGER STAN GORDON-- December 9, 1965, is a date that many area residents still remember. It was on that afternoon just as it was getting dark in the area that multitudes of witnesses observed a brilliant fiery object in the sky. Soon after the object passed over the greater Pittsburgh area, radio and TV stations were breaking the news of the sighting of the mysterious object in the sky. Information was later reported that the object had fallen into a wooded area near the Mount Pleasant Township community of Kecksburg in Westmoreland County.
During the evening, hundreds of curious people found their way to the rural roads around Kecksburg to try to see the object that had reportedly fallen. Many reporters from area newspapers, radio and TV also went to Kecksburg to determine what had occurred. The reporters, local residents, and the many curiosity seekers that arrived in the area, were met at the scene by state police, volunteer firemen, and the military.
That evening roads around the reported landing site were cordoned off, and the woods where the object was said to have fallen, were off limits to those who wanted to try to get closer look. What wasn't known at the time was that some people had gone down into the woods soon after the object fell and discovered the metallic acorn shaped object with odd symbols on it, semi-buried in the ground.
Many people in that area did see a military flatbed tractor trailer truck carrying an object covered with a tarp leave the area late that night at a high rate of speed. I learned years later from independent sources that the object was taken initially to Lockbourne Air Force Base near Columbus, Ohio. After a short stayover, the truck and its cargo continued onto Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
There are numerous witnesses who were involved in this incident that are still living today. Unfortunately, many others have passed away, and others are in poor health. On occasion even in the last few years, some area residents have approached me and shared with me their personal experiences with the Kecksburg incident. Some of these people still are able to recall with specific details the events that occurred that day many years ago.
Very recently a man attending a local public event near Pittsburgh noticed a woman wearing a Kecksburg V.F.D. shirt. The fellow approached that individual and asked if she knew anything about the Kecksburg UFO incident. The man was a witness to seeing the object in the sky that day in 1965, and wanted to know more about it. That woman gave him information on how to contact me.
The fellow told me that he had always been interested in the case since as a youngster he saw the object that afternoon pass over his farm not far from Pittsburgh. He was able to provide a detailed account of what had occurred that day as he happened to look up into the sky while playing. The object did not appear to be that high in the sky and was descending as it was moving. He watched the object until it moved out of sight. He said what impressed him about the object was that, “It was moving slowly, not going fast at all, like gliding.”
He went inside and told his family what he had seen. That evening they watched the local news on their black and white TV and there was a news report from the Kecksburg area concerning information that the object that was seen by many people had reportedly fallen near there. The fellow recalled seeing film footage that showed a lot of people walking around, armed personnel, and individuals putting up tape at a location to apparently keep people out.
Another individual who was on the scene at Kecksburg in 1965, and remembers the events of that night, is Robert Gatty, who was a reporter for the Greensburg Tribune-Review at the time. Gatty recently wrote about his experience that night on his blog: The Story of the Century to Come to Life.
Since the occurrence, there have been numerous theories proposed as to what that object was that fell near Kecksburg in 1965. Hopefully someday we will have the evidence to confirm what that object really was that fell in Pennsylvania so many years ago and is still discussed and debated today.
If you have any information on the Kecksburg case that you would like to share, please send me an email at: paufo@comcast.net.