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- CLOSE ENCOUNTER ON INTERSTATE 84
-
- By:Philip J. Imbrogno
-
-
-
- In the past, the state of Connecticut has always been an area of few UFO
- reports, however this is no longer true. Since 1985 the counties of
- Fairfield and Litchfield and Hartford has seen a dramatic rise in the
- number of UFO reports. This UFO is described as being a semi circle or
- boomerang with multi-colored lights. Even more incredible the size of this
- UFO has been reported to be the length of a football field!. This UFO that
- has been seen recently in Connecticut is without a doubt the Hudson valley
- UFO which is described in my book NIGHT SIEGE THE HUDSON VALLEY UFO
- SIGHTINGS (Ballantine Books 1987).
-
- For some reason unkown to this researcher the giant boomerang UFO has
- shifted it's activities from New York to Nearby Connecticut. The most
- recent sightings took place on May 26 of this year around interstate 84 one
- of the most heavily traveled highways in the northeast.
-
- Between 9;30 and 10;15 PM more than 200 people phoned local and state
- police to report a huge object with bright lights flying low over the
- highway near the towns of Newtown and Southbury in Connecticut. Those
- witnesses that called state police in Southbury were told that it was
- nothing more than a group of Ultralight aircraft from Candlewood airport
- flying in close formation and hanging colored lanterns from the bottom of
- the plane. The police also told witnesses that the aircraft were painted
- black so that all that can be seen is the lights. Many of the witnesses to
- the phenomenon found it very hard to believe the offical explanation.
-
- One witnesses to the UFO was Mrs. Betty Proulx of Middlebury who said
- that the object hovered over her house without a sound for over two
- minutes.There was no doubt in her mind that what she was looking at was one
- solid object.When Mr. Proulx heard about the explanation he could not
- accept it since he was in the air division of the Navy. "It was one craft
- and like no aircraft that I have ever seen in my life".
-
- Another witnesses was Mr. Randy Etting a commercial airline pilot with
- over thirty years of experience. Mr. Etting said that the idea of the
- ultralight theory "is the prattling of idiots" Mr. Etting observed the
- lights from his home in Newtown Connecticut at about 9:45 pm. He said that
- there were at least eight lights of different colors flying very close
- together and without a sound. As the object passed his home he observed it
- in a pair of 7X35 binoculars. Mr. Etting told me that the UFO was one
- object and he saw some type of heat waves coming from the object which
- distorted the area around the lights. Mr. Etting watched the object with
- neighbors and his son for over ten minutes as it slowly drifted to the
- north west. All the witnesses agree that the UFO was one solid object and
- round in appearance.
-
- The Etting party was observing the UFO while it was passing close to
- I-84. At this time over a dozen cars pulled over to view the UFO as it
- passed overhead. One witness a Charlie Tuperman described what happened
- that night.
-
- "It was about 9:30 or so and I was driving East on 84 around the
- Southbury area when I noticed these lights ahead of me. They were low and
- it looked like a 747 was going to land on the highway.This thing had about
- ten lights in kind of a half circle and the lights were yellow, green,
- blue, white and red. This thing was going very slow and moving from the east
- to the west. All of a sudden every one on both sides of the road began
- slamming on their brakes and pulling over to the side. It was a dangerous
- thing to do since there were several trucks apparently trying the same
- thing. I pulled over and watched this thing pass directly over the west
- bound lanes. I saw a dark mass behind the lights and there was no sound. I
- saw the lights of a state tropper just ahead of me and I fiqured he was
- called to see what was going on. Then all of a sudden this thing gets real
- bright, I mean all the lights just got ten times brighter for about ten
- seconds or so, then they faded to where they were before and that is about
- as bright as a planes wing lights. That really scared me. I wanted to get
- going because I thought there was some type of invasion or something,I just
- wanted to get home. Besides I was afraid of some trucker plowing into my
- car. I watched it head west and lost it . I turnd on the radio for
- news, but didn't hear anything about any UFOs on any of the local stations".
-
-
- Close Encounter in New Milford
-
-
- At about 10:00 after the series of sightings in the I-84 area. The UFO
- was seen heading to the west. It was then seen in the New Milford
- Connecticut area by a Robert Nellis his friend Jeff and Mr. Nellis dog.
- They were all in Nellis car off a side road off Route 7 in the northern
- area of New Milford. They were driving home after a long day of boating
- upstate along the Connecticut river.The dog began to bark and cry and at
- that point Jeff looked over to the northeast to see a number of bright
- lights hovering over a stand of pine trees less than a quarter mile away.
- They stopped the car and at that time their car radio began to sound
- "funny" with all types of strange sounding static that interfered with the
- station that they were listening to.
-
- They stopped the car and continued to watch the lights. At this moment
- the lights began to move slowly towards them. They were amazed at the size
- of the object, "larger than a football field". The dog continued to bark as
- the object passed over their car . Neil looked up and saw a very dark
- structure connecting the lights that extended toward the rear of the
- object. He said it was teardrop in shape and the lights in the front were
- in a half circle.The object was so large he said that" it covered the sky
- and blocked out everything overhead" The object he said was made of some
- type of "dark grey material with very little reflectability". There was no
- sound and they estimated that the giant UFO was no more than 500 feet above
- their car. The UFO then passed over their car and then shifted towards the
- north. They both noticed some type of flashing lights under the object that
- gave the impression as if something was moving. They watched the UFO slowly
- move away. The total duration of the sighting was ten minutes, however both
- men arrived home forty minutes later. This is could be a case of missing
- time, or the witnesses observed the object longer than they thought. Neil
- would call me for several days after my interview with him since he felt
- "uneasy and upset" about his Close Encounter. My research team and I are
- still investigating this case and it seems that it may be another of the
- many missing time cases that are escalating in the area.
-
-
- Photographic Proof
-
-
- This UFO was so bright and large that it was only a matter of time
- before someone would come forward with a photograph. To our surprise we
- were contacted by a person of high standing in the Southbury area who took
- a picture of the object as it moved very slowly over I-84 at about 9:30
- PM. The photographer wishes to remain anonymous since his position is very
- sensitive. He his a very highly trained college educated man who fears that
- the publicity surrounding the photograph could hurt his career. He gave
- us full rights to the photograph and his sighting account providing we do
- not use his real name. We will refer to him as David.
-
- David was on I-84 on Official busines when he saw the lights. The lights
- were in the northwest and heading east. As he watched, the object tilted
- and all the lights got much brighter.He was pulled off the road at the time
- and had his camera ready. The UFO was about 45 degrees above the horizon.
- Due to traffic he had time to take only one picture. His camera was a 35mm
- with a 50mm lens at 1.8, the film type was Kodacolor asa 400 and the
- exposure was 1/60th of a second, or 1/125. He was not sure of the setting,
- but feels it was 1/60th of a second. The object then moved toward the
- east without a sound. During an interview with this researcher, David told me
- that the he was sure there was a solid object behind the lights. He also
- said that when the object turned it looked like the lights on the sides
- were pulling out from the main mass, but he realized that this effect was
- due to the object changing posistion from his point of view.
-
- What about the Photo:
-
-
- Several photo-analysis experts are now looking at the photograph. Our
- initial study showed that the image is without a doubt hanging in the sky
- above the ground. Also the photograph was looked at by Dr. Willy Smith a
- scientists and UFO researcher of some repute. Dr. Smith's initial
- calculations show the object to be anywhere from 650-1600 across!
-
- We believe that this photograph is one of the best nightime UFO pictures
- taken in the past twenty years. There were quite a few witnesses to the
- sighting over a twenty-five mile radius, all reporting the same thing. A
- close examination of the original negative shows that the lights are
- reflecting off of some type of structure in the central part of the
- object.Also the lights are in a perfect half circle. There is no doubt that
- what ever the UFO photograph represents it is one solid object. We hope to
- get more data on the photograph and the sightings in the weeks to come. I
- have taken an add in the local papers asking for videos and photographs and
- sighting accounts from that night.
-
-
- A Rational Explanation?
-
-
-
- What about the theory that the UFO is nothing more than Ultralights from
- Candlewood airport. We questioned state police on this theory. An officer
- stated that they made a mistake about the airport, it wasen't Candlewood but
- Stormville airport. A flight instructor at Stormville later told us that
- there is only one Ultralight at Stormville and it only flys in the day
- since it is illegal for them to fly at night.
-
- The UFO sightings in the Northeast continue. In the days to follow I
- received several calls from witnesses who saw formations of military
- helecopters in the sighting area. One witnesses took a pictue of this
- formation. Is the goverment involved in the mysterious happenings over the
- Connecticut area? Many of the residents feel that the goverment is well
- aware of the UFO and is doing its best to play down the sightings by
- explaining them away. I called nearby Bradley international airport to find
- out if they had any information about the sightings. I was informed by air
- traffic control that no formations or large aircraft were tracked on radar
- at that location and time. I was also told that unless the "aircraft" have
- transponders (a device placed in aircraft that help identify them on radar)
- in them they would not be picked up at that location at an altitude of less
- than 2,000 feet. I have enough witnesses in different locations at the same
- time observing the UFO to determine that the approximate altitude was
- between 1,000 and 1300 feet. Based on this information my calculations
- indicate that the span of lights was at least 900 feet! Its apparent size
- in the sky was quite large,this is evident by the image on the 35mm frame
- that takes up almost half the negative. It is obvious from the photograph
- and by the witneses statments that something more than ultralight aircraft
- was in the sky over Connecticut that night.
-
- If any of my readers would like to contact me concerning this series of
- UFO sightings I can be reached at PO Box 4218 Greenwich, Ct 06830.