Posted
on December 9, 2013
When
a large fireball streaks through the sky, everyone points and shouts,
“What was that?” or “Did you see that?”
When
the fireball is accompanied by sonic booms, many people assume that
something has crashed onto the earth. When the fireball disappears
behind a tree or house, many assume that it has landed just a hundred
feet or so beyond.
It's
actually really hard to figure out how distant an object in the sky
is, unless you already know the size. If you see a familiar type of
bird or airplane in the sky, you have a very good idea of how big it
is, really, and therefore can ballpark a guess about its distance.
But a ball of fire?
Most
people assume such a thing is much closer to them than it really is.
Some
people rush about trying to find whatever fell. Some people call
authorities to report what they saw. A few contact journalists. Most
people talk to their friends and loved ones, exchanging notes about
who saw and heard what. And many people also repeat what others saw
as well as what they saw.
Out
of such an incident, many rumors are born.
Stories
are misheard, misunderstood, or misremembered. Details are
exaggerated or forgotten, and so the stories begin to take on a life
of their own.
On
this date in 1965, a fireball was seen by thousands in six U.S.
states and in Ontario, Canada. Although most people reported seeing a
meteor, others reported it as a UFO.
Remember,
UFO does not mean an alien spacecraft. Instead, it means an
Unidentified Flying Object.
In
this case, perhaps, it should be an Unidentified Falling
Object.
 |
| This model was built to show what a few people reported seeing. |
Some
people thought it was a plane test, a missile test, or a fallen
satellite. A few people in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, thought that the
fireball was something that crashed in the woods near their village.
One boy said he saw an object land, and his mother said she saw a
wisp of smoke. Another person said he felt a vibration and heard a
thump. That's not much to go on, but when people investigated,
several people saw that they saw an acorn-shaped metal object that
was about the size of a VW Beetle car, with unfamiliar signs etched
into its base.
When
something weird happens, some people call the police or the fire
department. That apparently happened in Kecksburg, but there are
mixed reports about what happened when the police and fire department
arrived. Some say that the are was roped off and that civilians and
journalists were kept away from the area where a giant space acorn
may or may not have landed and / or crashed! Some say that the
military was obviously alerted, and that men in uniforms and men in
black suits began to arrive in the town and the woods. Some claim
that a flatbed truck took something away from the woods; and some
claim that audio tapes and photographs taken on the night of the
fireball incident were confiscated by (choose one) military
personnel, government officials, or NASA scientists.
Supposedly,
a fire fighter saw the acorn-shaped whatever-it-was. Supposedly, fire
fighters and police found absolutely nothing. Reportedly, a bell- or
acorn-shaped Russian satellite was known to have reentered the
atmosphere and crashed in Canada on that actual date—but miles and
miles away from, and 13 hours before, the fireball. At the time,
experts said that there was no way the Russian satellite could have
crashed in Kecksburg, but decades later one NASA spokesperson said
that the Kecksburg incident was caused by a Russian satellite!
What a bunch of contradictions, huh?
In
the meantime, some people claimed that an alien spacecraft had landed
(or crashed) in Kecksburg, and the government covered it up. Others
claimed that the incident was really “the Nazi Bell” piloted by
Nazi SS officer Hans Kammler, who escaped from Allied forces at the
end of World War II and time-and-space traveled to Kecksburg in the
1960s. Of course, he then integrated himself into American society.
Another theory is that the fireball and “thump” were the results
of Nazi investigations into antigravity, a project called Die
Glocke (The Bell).
What
are we to believe?
I
think that there seems to be zero evidence for an alien spacecraft.
There is the tiniest bit of evidence pointing to Nazi experimentation
with a similarly shaped device, which could possibly have led to
much-later experimentation that may have resulted in a crash and
cover-up—but the time-travel and antigravity angles are surely
fabrications. The coincidence of a Russian satellite of the “right”
shape crashing on the same day makes me think that somehow two
different stories (a meteor and the reentry of an old satellite) got
mixed up together. Astronomers' calculations that indicate that the
fireball / meteor's trajectory couldn't possibly have resulted in a
crash in Kecksburg seem pretty compelling. However, the varied
stories coming from officials make me wonder if there might have been
some sort of test-gone-awry that was responsible for some of the
initial reports. We all know that legitimate security concerns as
well as Cold War paranoia and inter-agency non-cooperation have made
it difficult, at times, to figure out what really happened. And who
was to blame.
Where
there is profit...
 |
| When you see this sort of ad for a TV special, you should be on alert - the show is almost certainly going to overdramatize the incident rather than "stick to the facts." |
I
was interested to note that most of the TV specials about the
Kecksburg incident happened in the 2000s, almost 40 years after the
fireball. Why all the interest, all of a sudden?
Then
I discovered that, also in the 2000s, the Kecksburg Volunteer Fire
Department started hosting, every summer, a free UFO Festival to raise funds. (Are you wondering how, if it's free, does it raise funds? Apparently they've made
enough money from selling food and from renting space to vendors to
pay for such things as a $190,000 firetruck.)
What
goes on at a UFO Festival? There is a parade
with prizes for the best UFO entry, UFO costume, UFO pet costume, and
UFO motorcycle. There is a bucket brigade, bed race, hay bale toss,
and a “Smoke in the Valley Burn Out contest” (whatever that is!), even though these things have everything to do with "festival" and nothing to do
with UFOs! There is an “Out of this World Hot Dog Eating Contest.”
There is a UFO conference (also free!), a craft show, and a lot of
vendors. UFO and Bigfoot “researchers” and organizations put up
exhibits and hold talks and, I bet, spread a lot of misinformation.
 |
| The Kecksburg UFO Festival: same sort of carnival or festival booths and activities, with an alien / UFO twist. |
(Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of evidence that most people in
such organizations are sincere but mistaken about UFOs and Bigfoot. I
hope there are a few skeptics in attendance that can offer rational,
evidence-based explanations for the mysteries discussed.)
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on this date:
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