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Encounters of the Unknown—Alternate Perceptions Magazine, September 2017


The Strange Encounter of Reverend Anthony De Polo

by: John A. Keel


At about 1:30 a.m., on the morning of July 18, 1967, Reverend Anthony De Polo was awakened by a very loud noise, “the type you hear on television science-fiction programs.” This oscillating sound began at a low pitch and then rose to a high whine until it was no longer audible. However, he said that he continued to experience pressure in his eardrums and he assumed that the sound had risen above 20,000 cycles per second; the range of human hearing. This strange noise followed this pattern, ising and falling, three or four times. At a certain point in the curve of sound he distinctly felt that a mental message was somehow being conveyed to him. This message was more a feeling than actual words, but he interpreted it to mean: “Go downstairs.”

He headed for the stairs, curious but unafraid. When he reached the foot of the stairs he looked out a window facing west and there, standing in the driveway between his house and his neighbor's, he saw what he later described as a five foot tall figure wearing a luminous “space suit.” The surrounding glow made the figure very distinct.

At first he thought that some neighborhood children might be playing a prank of some sort. But he noted that the neighbor's house was dark and he realized that the glowing suit would be a hard effect to create.

Something compelled him to step out onto his porch and take a closer look at this strange being. The eerie whine began again and he received a second message which, he says, stated: “You have nothing to fear. I will not harm you and I know you will not harm me.” He started to step toward the figure when the whining sound began again and he received a third message: “Danger. I must go.” At this point Reverend De Polo looked up at the sky. There was no “space ship” in sight but he noticed that the sky was strangely illuminated “like the light from a mercury vapor lamp such as they use on the turnpike.” A fourth message was passed on to him and he is not willing to divulge its contents.

When he returned his eyes to the driveway, the “spaceman” was gone. In the exact spot where he had been standing there was a formless blob of light, not figure-shaped, which faded out and vanished in a short time.

Reverend De Polo claims that he was completely unafraid through this experience and that he went directly back to bed without saying anything to his wife about it. “I fell asleep immediately,” he noted. He decided the next day to say nothing about this incident unless other witnesses came forward and reported the same thing.

Reverend De Polo describes the figure was wearing a silver suit which was “more refined and less bulky than our own astronauts wear.” Apparently it was snugly fitted to the being's form. There was a trace of a belt around its middle. The being wore five-fingered gloves and a transparent helmet. He could see that the “spaceman” had human features but he did not get a close enough look so that he could describe them. Nor could he tell whether the being's skin was light or dark. He did not see any tubes, tanks, or other attachments to the suit. Reverend De Polo is in his late thirties, possesses three degrees in psychology and philosophy and has been a college teacher. He seems to be of above-average intelligence, is very articulate and tells his story in a straightforward manner. Investigator Capots spent some time with him in his home and I interviewed him at length by telephone. He does not tend to embellish his story, nor does he invent details to answer unexpected questions about his experience. I personally believe that this is an exceptionally good witness whose story should be taken very seriously.

AN UNEXPECTED INVESTIGATION: After other witnesses reported seeing UFOs that night, Reverend De Polo told his wife about his experience and mentioned it to a reporter. The Youngstown (Ohio) VINDICATOR mentioned him in their UFO story of July 20th but did not describe his contact. Two weeks later, a group of men arrived at his home and identified themselves as “scientists with B.F. Goodrich in Akron, Ohio. They said they were making a serious study of the UFO phenomenon and asked for the full details of his story. He told them everything, including the contents of the fourth message. When he was finished, the spokesman for the group told him that other contacts of this kind had been made and that they fitted a common pattern. “Other people have received similar messages,” they said, “and we want to compare notes.” They then asked him to keep the contents of the fourth message to himself, otherwise someone else might use the information to lead them astray. When their study was completed, the spokesman continued, they would turn over all the relevant information to him.

They then requested him to give a speech at a private meeting of Goodrich scientists the following week, on August 15th. Employees of Goodrich were quietly researching the whole subject. Reverend De Polo obliged them and did visit their plant where he addressed a large and responsive group who asked many probing and intelligent questions afterwards. They said that they were going to file his full report with the Condon Committee in Colorado.

OTHER PATTERNS: In my telephone conversations with Reverend De Polo on August 17th I asked a great many background questions and, as is usual in this type of case, found a repeat of many of the patterns now so familiar to me.

He told me that his television had occasionally emitted unusual “beeping” signals over the past few months. (I have heard this many times in various places around the country and classify it as “Phase 1”). Probing deeper, I learned that a few months ago he had called on a TV repairman because his set was picking up voices counting off numbers and he thought he was “intercepting a HAM radio operator from somewhere nearby.” (This number-counting business is “PHASE 2” in the contactee pattern and is often followed by strange phone calls in which distant-sounding voices continue to recite numbers in patterns.)

Reverend De Polo has received “hundreds” of phone calls since that night, but all were from people who had also seen a UFO. He has not received a single crank call of any kind, nor has he received a number-counting call. Looks like they skipped “Phase 3.” He has not been subject to any hoaxes or ridicule.

When asked if he has heard any strange noises inside his house since his “contacts” he paused and told me that only last night he had heard what sounded like a baby crying around 2 a.m. He had wandered through several rooms but could find nothing that could be making such a noise. (This baby crying phenomenon has been reported to me in cases in West Virginia and Long Island.) Earlier in the evening he and his wife had heard a loud crash in another part of the house but could not find the source.

I asked Reverend De Polo a few questions about his family. “I've traced my family all the way back to Biblical times on my mother's side,” he said. But there is no Indian or Egyptian strain in his family that he knows of.

Reverend De Polo has had a long-time interest in ESP and he has had numerous experiences which have convinced him that he may be telepathic. Investigator Capots notes in his report: “He tells me that he has ESP in that he can often tell what is on a student's mind before the student verbalizes it. I definitely had the impression that he could 'sense' things about me while I talked to him.”

THE FOURTH MESSAGE: He would not reveal the fourth message but he did imply that it concerned a possible return visit from the being. It may have been a statement about others being contacted in the same area. It was not a message about the end of the world or the problems of our atomic experiments.

CORROBORATING INCIDENTS: Around 9:15 p.m., on July 4, 1967, a mysterious cloud of luminous gas moved down Market Street in nearby Youngstown, Ohio at ground level. This gas caused eyes to water and produced dizziness and choking. Resperation equipment had to be rushed to the area to aid victims of the gas. (Similar clouds of gas have turned up in Naples, Italy and southern Long Island in recent months). This area is only a few miles from Boardman.

There have been many UFO sightings around Boardman in recent months. On the night of Reverend De Polo's alleged experience, July 18th, witnesses in southern Youngstown reported hearing eerie sounds “resembling a divebombing plame, a screamingh noise,” at 1:20 a.m. One witness who glimpsed the object said that it was cigar-shaped and was flying just above the treetops. He described it as being a metallic silver blue and estimated its length to be about seven feet. A powerful odor, resembling the smell of hot tar, clung to the air. While he watched, the thing turned to green, then to an orange-red. The noises stopped and the object flew off southwards in the direction of Boardman. Case investigated by John Keel of New York City and, at the local level, James Capots, Jr., of Columbrana, Ohio. Link: www.johnkeel.com [June 2016 installment]


Friday, March 29, 2024