2004 - a year in review for Pickaway UFO sightings

By Pete Hartinger  The Circleville Herald    Friday, February 4, 2005

 

This past year had continued UFO sightings worldwide. The United States again had many of these.  Some are listed on Peter Davenport's Web site, www.ufocenter.com.
On March 24, I gave a talk to the Pickaway County Bar Association. As part of my talk I gave a statement that a lawyer friend of mine from Cleveland gave me in regards to the UFO phenomenon.
"The weight of evidence is now so strong that there is something unexplained going on that the burden of proof has switched to the skeptics to prove that there is nothing to it."
After the meeting, perhaps because of the evidence I presented, one of the lawyers told me of his personal UFO sighting of years ago.
There is another statement made by former Admiral of the British Fleet, Lord Hill-Norton. He stated, "There have been thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of sightings and encounters, physical results and of the latter, by people all over the world whose evidence on any other subject would be accepted without question."
The Mexican Air Force had a UFO sighting that made world wide news in May, 2004.

Several anomalies were seen near one of their aircraft and were picked up on their instruments.  No natural explanation was ever given for this incident.  On July 12, 2004 there occurred one of the strangest UFO cases I have ever investigated.  A local man was grilling steaks in his back yard at night when he reported a beam or cone of light shined down on him.  When he looked up he stated he saw a circular shaped craft about 500 feet overhead.  It was hovering over the nearby property.  This sighting occurred in Circleville.  He stated the sighting lasted about 30 seconds.  Although no other witnesses have been found, this sighting is extraordinary, because at the time of the sighting the witness was on his cordless phone with his Mother.  In speaking with her, she verified what her son was doing at the time; talking with her on the phone.   She thought her son was joking with her at first but quickly realized he wasn't.  When he hollered "Mom!" on the phone the beam of light shot back up into the craft and it then zoomed away.  The witnesses' wife, who was in the house at the time, stated the television flickered during that time period.  I was at the witnesses' house within 40 minutes after being informed of his sighting.  He seemed very sincere and of course was excited at the time.  If you have a computer, go to www.ufocenter.com.  You can read his sighting report he sent in shortly after his sighting.  I told him he should submit this asap to this website.  Look at his July 12 sighting report and then notice the Portsmouth, Ohio sighting of July 17, five nights later.  That report describes beams of light coming down to the ground. Some 15 to 20 minutes before his sighting a strange cloud was seen north of Circleville slowly heading south.  This witness described the cloud being unusual.   Was this a connection?  Strange clouds have been connected to some UFO sightings.  I did give a written report on this sighting to the Mutual UFO Network. More follow up information is being gathered and will be given to MUFON.  More food for thought. The witness from day one has always said that he is more than willing to take a lie detector test about what he had seen.
The Roundtown UFO Society hosted its second UFO display at the Pickaway County District Library on August 21st.  Another is planned for August, 2005.  At these displays a county map is shown that includes local UFO sighting reports that I have collected.  At last count there were 35 of them that have occurred over the years.  No doubt there are many more of them that have never been reported.
There were other local UFO sighting reports that came to the society's attention during 2004.  One involved two brothers who live in the western part of the county.  They saw a round shaped object a few feet above some wood behind their house where they live at on Alkire Road.  They described what looked like windows that they had seen on the UFO.  This unknown object was seen very close to the high power tension lines that run thru that part of the county.  The brothers (like many others) say they have never forgotten about this UFO sighting, as it happened in 1997.  Another very interesting UFO sighting occurred in the summer of 1948.  Yes, this was just a few months after farmer Bruce Stevenson's famous sighting.  It was also a report of a saucer shaped craft.  However, the main difference in this case was that there were at least six family members that saw it.  They also described what looked like windows on the craft.  It circled for several minutes while the family watched.  This sighting of years ago occurred in the southeastern part of the county.  The couple I interviewed about this sighting are highly respected and live in Circleville.
These sighting reports were given to me, because of my public awareness program about the UFO phenomenon.  I could tell that they felt comfortable in talking about their experiences.  I appreciate their candor.  These sightings are part of our history.
In October we had our 2nd annual sky watch/meeting at the Sandy Barthelmas farm on Route 56. (Stevenson's UFO sighting location).  We hope to make this an annual affair. Like our regular meetings, (second Thursday of the month), this skywatch is open to the public.  The Roundtown UFO Society had a small UFO display during this past year's Pumpkin Show.  It was only for a couple of hours each day and was located on Pinckney Street.  Because of the interest shown, we hope to have a bigger display and have longer hours next year.
In November a Web site was started for the society by Michael Moore.  He also does the Web site for the Ashville Museum.  We appreciate his effort in helping to inform the interested public. The Web address is www.roundtownufosociety.com.
If you have any questions or you would like to speak to me about this subject just phone me at 477-6252; write P.O. Box 52, Circleville, OH 43113: or e-mail me at rufos @ columbus.rr.com.
 

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