Page 5 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August / September 2018

UFO Myths : Stephenville, January 8, 2008 5

UFO Myths: A Special

Investigation into

Stephenville and Other

Major Sightings

Continued from Page 4

There is no dispute that UFOs exist--that is,
objects flying through the sky that are
unidentified. (In fact, one in seven Americans
say they have seen UFOs.) But that, of course,
does not mean they are ships from a distant
galaxy. We humans tend to leap to conclusions,
imagining alien spacecraft while discounting
more likely explanations.
Over the centuries, the technology to
record UFOs has evolved from marks on clay to
video clips, and the causes of sightings may
have changed from comets to secret aircraft, but
the psychological pattern endures: It is the story
a Web site about the sightings, funded by Allen. information and forwarded radar data.
of people projecting hopes and fears onto
The Dublin Citizen, however, continued to In July, the group released its report,
objects in the sky. pursue the story. Publisher and editor Mac which suggests that several fighters as well as an
The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON),
McKinnon, a former Air Force historian whose Airborne Warning and Control System
which is probably the most influential
office is hung with model warplanes from his (AWACS) plane were in the area. But so, they
organization within the highly combative and
days in the service, saw some curious lights in claim, was a mysterious large object, without the
suspicious UFO community, received so many
January. "I believe the military has all sorts of required transponder that identifies and locates
reports about the Stephenville lights that the
exotic propulsion systems and other aircraft. The report concludes that a very large
Colorado-based group set up an open hearing in
technologies we don't even know about," he unidentified craft or object "was tracked on
nearby Dublin, Texas, birthplace of Dr Pepper
says. He assigned the story to reporter Jon radar for over an hour. Most of the time, the
and golfer Ben Hogan. On Sat., Jan. 19, some
Awbrey, who also saw lights--"a triangle with object was either stationary or moving at speeds
500 people streamed into the 1909 brick squares at the corners." of less than 60 mph. At 7:32 pm, the object was
building that is home to the local Rotary Club.
Awbrey put me in touch with Dublin tracked accelerating to 532 mph in 30 seconds
"Everywhere I turned there were TV tripods,"
police chief Lannie Lee. In January two of his and then slowing to 49 mph only 10 seconds
says Steve Hudgeons, a Fort Worth construction
men had taped one of the lights using the later."
project manager and chief of MUFON's
dashboard video in their patrol car. He had not Radar blips would seem to present a
investigations in Texas.
made the tape public. "I didn't want any positive, nonsubjective way to observe UFOs.
Many people in attendance were simply
notoriety to be attached to the department," the Studies from the Condon Report, published in
curious. A few wore tinfoil caps. But more than
mild-mannered chief says. 1968 by the University of Colorado, to the Air
200 people came forward to tell their stories,
He pulls out a VHS tape and leads me to Force's Blue Book project to a 1997 evaluation
with some sightings going back 30 years. the back of the station and puts it in the machine. by the Society for Scientific Exploration,
Hutcheons and other MUFON investigators
On the screen, a dot appears against a black sky however, have found that radar can be "fooled"
considered about 20 reports to be substantive
and begins to dance. The camera zooms in on a in simple ways. Anomalous propagation, or false
and relevant to the Jan. 8 incident and promised
shimmering, bouncing but otherwise featureless echoes, is most often caused by ground clutter,
to publish a report.
circle of light. "It goes on like that for about an often a result of low-level temperature
On Jan. 23, 12 days after denying it had
hour," Lee says. inversions that muffle ground radar's electronic
planes in the air, the military reversed itself.
The reports from January reminded pulse and lead to a circular scatter of returns
According to a carefully worded press release
another Dublin resident, machinist Ricky based on hits from buildings and trees.
issued by Air Force Reserve Command Public
Sorrells, of a huge object he says he saw in In extreme examples, called ducting, the
Affairs, "Ten F-16s from the 457th Fighter December when he was deer hunting. "I looked temperature inversion can bend the beam all the
Squadron were performing training operations
at it through the scope on my deer rifle," Sorrells way back to the Earth's surface, so a surprising
from 6 to 8 pm on Jan. 8 in the Brownwood
tells me over burgers at the Dublin Dairy Queen. radar blip turns out to be a hill or a building.
Military Operations Area [MOA], which
He is a big man who has just come in from With the introduction of more advanced filtering
includes the airspace above Erath County."
hunting, dressed in full camouflage. He software over the past decade, the number of
Why the flip-flop? "It was an internal
describes what he saw as a "huge gray object," UFOs attributed to false returns has decreased
communications problem that has now been
the color of galvanized metal, with no rivets, significantly.
fixed," says 301st Fighter Wing spokesman
bolts or seams. "It was about 100 ft tall and Former Air Force pilot, astronomer and
Lewis. Inconsistent disclosures by the military
about 300 ft up in the air," he says, comparing longtime UFO skeptic James McGaha believes
have often fueled UFO speculation. The military the height of the object to the grain elevator that some such form of radar scatter was
changed its story about Roswell numerous times
where he once worked. responsible for the returns that MUFON
after 1947, when Air Force officials first claimed
t was the first of several sightings for interpreted as a solid object. The FAA did not
to have "captured" a flying saucer, then denied
Sorrells. He captured one of them on video. In describe any such object, nor was it clear
it.
the Dairy Queen, he unfolded his cellphone and whether it was in the Brownwood MOA. "They
Adding to the atmosphere of mistrust is
handed it to me. I saw a tiny video of a barely had a huge amount of data," McGaha says, "and
the military's refusal to release details of
discernable white shape moving through the sky. they just pulled a few bits of information out of
operations, including training flights. Lewis it and drew a line."
declines to give specifics on hardware or tactics After its Dublin open hearing, MUFON
used over Erath County. During training, he filed Freedom of Information Act requests with (Continued on Page 6)
says, "we fly like we fight." the military branches and other governmental
By mid-February the Empire-Tribune agencies. Only the Federal Aviation SimulTV Is Here!
had lost interest in the Stephenville lights; their Administration and the National Weather
reporter Joiner had not. She left the paper to run Service acknowledged they had relevant Visit - www.SimulTV.com