- Twenty five years ago, I was directing
the Westmoreland County UFO Study Group based in Greensburg. I had started
this volunteer research group in 1970, and I had established a good relationship
with law enforcement and the news media in western Pennsylvania. Then in
1973 a major UFO wave broke out across the country, and hundreds of sightings
were being reported in the Keystone state. Then to make the situation even
stranger, sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures began to be reported over
a multi-county area in both western and eastern Pennsylvania. These reports
continued for several months then began to slow down.
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- Interestingly, the media and police agencies
for the most part took the reports seriously, And our UFO Hotline number
was literally deluged with reports and questions. While some police agencies
were investigating some incidents, they were commonly referring the reports
to our group to investigate, and in some cases our teams were assisting
the agency involved.
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- I had set up a communications center
in my home, and we were radio dispatching investigators to the sites as
reports were coming in. We were conducting this research around our regular
jobs, but in many cases, we had teams on site within minutes to hours after
a UFO or creature sighting was reported. But it was one case which occurred,
that made myself and my associates aware, that there were some aspects
of the UFO and Bigfoot mystery that are even stranger than were first apparent.
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- As I have stated since this event, most
unexplained UFO sightings are not reported with Bigfoot encounters. And
most sightings of Bigfoot have no association with UFO reports. But here
in PA we investigated a few cases, where both were seen at the same time.
In other cases, A UFO would be reported in an area, and soon Bigfoot reports
would come from that area, or vise versa. What association there exists
between the two anomalies if any, remains open to speculation. I must stress,
these cases are historically rare, but some are well documented. It was
my position as an investigator to gather the data, and present the information,
not hide the facts that were uncovered because it would cause controversy
from both Cryptozoologists and UFOlogists who have their theories as to
what these phenomena represent.
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- Briefly, on the night of October 25,
1973, My UFO Hotline was active with UFO reports from around the state.
About 10:30 P.M. that evening, I received a call from state trooper from
the Uniontown barracks concerning an incident which he had just returned
from investigating. One of those involved, was put on the phone for me
to interview. At about 9 P.M. about 15 people observed a very large red
spherical object hovering low in the sky which began to descend towards
a pasture. The witness and two boys proceeded up the field and observed
a white dome shaped object on the ground that illuminated the area, and
was making a loud whirring sound. It was estimated at about 100 feet in
diameter. They were about 250 feet from the object, and about 75 feet from
a fence line. Walking along the fence line were two tall figures, 7 to
9 feet tall, covered with hair, and arms hanging down past the knees, and
displaying glowing green eyes.
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- The creatures were fired upon, first
tracers were shot overhead, then live ammo was used. The largest of the
two creatures turned towards the other almost touching it, and at the same
time the object in the field disappeared, and the sound stopped. The creatures
slowly walked towards the woods. One boy had already ran home, the other
two left the field, went to the farmhouse and moved the family members
to a neighbor's home, and called the state police. When the trooper arrived
he and the main witness went to the site, and where the object had landed
there was a glowing area, that according to the trooper was about 150 feet
in diameter. He said he could read a newspaper from the amount of light
that it was emitting. The farm animals refused to go into the area. The
witness we talked with has always stated that before they left the field,
the largest of the two creatures was seen in the woods about 10 feet from
them, and he shot at it and it struck the fence that stood between them.
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- Later that night our team arrived in
the area. Radiation levels normal, glowing area now gone, but animals still
wouldn't go near the spot. Strange events began to occur during the early
morning hours in this dark secluded location. A farmhouse several hundred
feet from us was seen by some in the party to suddenly light up like daylight
for several seconds. A bull in the field and a dog seemed unconcerned about
us, and were looking into the woods. The main witness, a rather large individual
while being questioned, suddenly begins to growl, throwing his father and
my assistant George Lutz towards the ground. The man ran into the field
growling like an animal and emitting screams, one which was near inhuman.
His own dog approaches him as to attack, then runs off whimpering. The
man suddenly collapses onto the ground. Then two of my team members begin
to complain that they are having trouble breathing. Suddenly the air is
filled with a strong odor that can best be described as rotten eggs.
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- The man as he came out of what appeared
to be an almost trance-like state, began talking about visions he saw about
the end of the world, etc. Not knowing what could happen next we helped
each other back to our vehicles. It was apparent that professional help
was required in this case, and eminent psychiatrist Berthold E. Schwarz
was contacted. Dr. Schwarz traveled to PA at his own expense and interviewed
all of those involved including the eyewitnesses and state trooper. There
is much more detail to this case, and I spent years following the life
of the principal involved. There were many para-normal events which reportedly
occured in the years following this episode. And many years later in a
follow up interview, an MIB event associated with the case was revealed.
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- For a more detailed account of the case
see Dr. Schwarz's article "Berserk" in Flying Saucer Review,
Volume 20, Number 1 (January-February, 1974, or "An Encounter in Fayette
County" in True Tales of the Unknown, Vol.II, published by Bantam
Books, November, 1989.
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- This was a well documented event involving
numerous individuals who had no interest in the unusual. But it seems that
the circumstances of this case affected many of those who were involved.
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- If you are aware of any similar cases
please contact me. Please check out my website at www.westol.com/~paufo
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- Stan Gordon
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