Alternate Perceptions Magazine, June 2024
The Saucer Files
by: Rick Hilberg
Three Northern Ohio Cases From 1979
On July 4, 1979, at about 10:30 p.m. four people watching a fireworks display on Bancroft Road in Cleveland observed a star-like object moving at an apparent rate faster than a normal aircraft.
The object was first noticed in the southwest part of the sky at an elevation of from 70 to 90 degrees. The object was moving swiftly toward the northeast, where it was lost from view after one minute.
One of the witnesses who observed the object through binoculars stated that it was delta-shaped and a metallic gold in color with a red "beacon" light in its center.
The witness further stated that through the binoculars the light was so bright that he had to put down the instrument as his eyes began to hurt.
At 9:00 p.m. on July 24, 1979, four persons in the area of South Euclid, Ohio reported seeing a large round object, flat on the bottom with some sort of dome on top, traveling west to south.
The witnesses all described the object as being dull silver in color on the bottom, and seemingly spinning or wobbling as it slowly moved over them. The UFO was in sight from five to ten minutes and seemed to be slowly gaining in altitude until it was finally lost from sight.
A police officer from the Cleveland suburb of University Heights was driving eastbound on Euclid Avenue in a business section of Willoughby after getting off duty at 1:05 a.m. on October 30, 1979. There was very little traffic at that early hour and the witness expected a quiet and uneventful drive to his destination.
Suddenly, the placid drive was interrupted by the sight of a large unlighted hemispherical object directly above and in front of his car. The object seemed to be illuminated by the reflected light from his car and the streetlights on the roadway and looked to be a dull gray in color. The witness was sure that the UFO was solid, and not any sort of atmospheric phenomena or reflection.
Since the object was also traveling toward the east, the witness increased his speed to attempt to keep pace with it. He estimated that it was flying at a speed of 60 miles per hour, and that it was keeping a stable altitude.
After keeping pace for somewhat less than a minute, the witness was fast approaching a freeway exchange that had some amount of traffic, so he was forced to slow down to a safer speed.
It was at this time that he lost sight of the UFO due to his slower speed and the fact that the intersection was brightly illuminated and seemed to "blot out" the object. All in all, the witness said he was quite shaken by his experience and that he had never seen anything like it before.
Source: All called into my UFO phone hotline.
