A Cincinnatti newspaper reported on August 26, 1955 that by a ice clear night with the moonlight bathing the countryside, at 10:53 p.m., in Winton Woods, Hamilton County, Ohio, the USA, Bill Wallace, 18, of 308 Boal Street, deposited Donna Meiers, 13, behind her house opposite 1065 Winton Road, and was parked on Lakeside Drive.
Also in the car were Marlene McLeaster, 15, of Beech Drive, Springfield township, and Cleophas "Bobo" Strange, 18, of 308 Boal street.
The latter looked by the back window of the car and stuttered in a frightened voice at Bill Wallace that he should look back too.
Bill Wallace stated that when he looked back, he saw a green thing which seemed to have only 3.5 or 4 feet in height, but covered 40 feet in only three steps, to come at only 4 feet of the back of the car.
Cleophas Strange said that the very real-looking thing, was slick green, enlightened at the same time by the car's lights and the moon, and he was very frightened.
Donna Meiers, everyone agreeing that she was the closest to the thing, stated that "It was slimy-looking like a snake. It had clothes, but they looked like they were painted on." She said that it had a dark greenish glow, but that the most frightening were its luminous yellow eyes, like cats eyes, but larger, with dark centers. She specified that the head was round and had something fuzzy on top, like hair or a hat.
Bill Wallace drove away and the four rushed at the nearest police station of Greenhills. County Patrolman Ralph Conlon, Car 907, went to investigate and submitted a report at 12:18 in the morning: the young people had told him that it was a little man approximately 4 feet tall, green, with yellow eyes, approaching the car, and that they drove away, noticing a strong odor at this time.
Checking the place, police officers of Greenhills found a skunk wandering in the area, accompanied by its strong odor, and apparently concluded that it was what the young people had seen. The youngsters disputed the explanation, saying that Patrolman Conlon badly understood something: they had not smelled anything strange at the time, it was only when they returned on the scene with the police officers that they noticed the odor, and saw the skunk.
At the hour when the young people had said to have seen the creature, police officers in patrol had observed a twinkling gleam, "coming obviously from the exhaust pulsating of a spaceship" according to the ironical comment of the newspaper, in direction of the atomic power plant of Fernald; this gleam was not explained.
The incident occurred in the context of the furor of sensationalist or ridiculing reports by news agencies and newspapers about the "monsters" claimed wrongly to be "green" which reportedly attacked a farm in Kelly; and to top it all, a 15-year-old, Albert Snapp, had been arrested: he had frightened his neighborhood in Cumminsville by walking around in some green-painted long-sleeved underwear. The young man, then accused of being the cause of all the encounters with little green men in the area, however insisted that he had operated only in his immediate vicinity of Cumminsville, also in Hamilton county, some 10 miles from Winton Woods.
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[Ref. cp1:] THE CINCINNATI POST:
"Strange Things Are Happening"Little Men Chase Youths, Cops Chase GlowBy S. Cornell It was a good clear night with the countryside swathed in the perfect glow of a cheese-green moon. Naturally enough, a little green man who took three giant steps appeared in Winton Woods, and a flickering glow, obviously from the pulsating exhaust of a space ship, appeared over the Fernald atomic plant. Both were sighted at the same time, 10:53 p.m. Cleophas Strange, 18, of 308 Boal Street, looked out of the rear window of an auto parked on Lakeside Drive in Winton Woods, and stuttered: "B-b-bill, you b-b-better get o-o-out of here!" The little green man had arrived. Bill Wallace, 18, also of 308 Boal Street, merely was delivering Donna Meiers, 13, to the rear of her home, which fronts on 1065 Winton Road. Also in the auto was Marlene McLeaster, 15, of Beech Drive, Springfield Township. "Bobo - that's what we call Cleophas - sounded scared," said Bill. "Then I looked back and saw that green thing. It looked only 31/2 or 4 feet tall. But it took only three steps and covered 40 feet. It was only four feet from the back of the car and it could have got us if it wanted to. I had to get the car started." "Call me Jim," said Cleophas, "it sure was there, bigger than life. It was slick green." The moon hit it, and Bill's car lights hit it, too. Scared? You're telling me! I'll belt the first guy who laughs." Donna, whom everybody agrees was closest to the miniature monster, said: "It was slimy-looking like a snake. It had clothes, but they looked like they were painted on." "It had a dark greenish glow, but what scared you were the eyes," said Donna. "They were yellow, like a cat's eyes, only bigger, with dark centers. They glowed. The head was round and had something fuzzy like hair or a hat on it." The four rushed off to the nearest police. In this case, the Greenhills police, of course. After investigation, came this report from County Patrolman Ralph Conlon, Car 907, at 12:18 a.m.: "They said a small man about four feet tall, colored green, with yellow eyes approached the car. They took off and as they drove off, were aware of a strong odor. Greenhills police and patrolman checked the scene and found a skunk on the prowl, accompanied by the unusual odor." The youngsters, however, said Patrolman Conlon had one thing wrong. "They didn't smell anything unusual until they went back to the scene with the officers. There was a skunk there then, all right." Sgt. Ralph Weber, of county-police, turned to Patrolman Maurice Wiseman at 10:55 p.m. in Car-914 and said: "People have been seeing things in the sky at 2 and 3 a.m. Let's keep an eye out." "You mean like that over there?" asked Patrolman Wiseman. Sgt. Weber said: "We were on Hamilton Pike, and it looked like the glow was over the atom plant. It was something like the exhaust from an airliner. It flickered, and once in a while it had a reddish cast." "We watched it while going over there," Sgt. Weber said. "It would drop 100 to 300 feet, then go back up. Sometimes it would dart off to the side, like it couldn't stay stationary. I never did see anything solid. When we got over Fernald, there was nothing at. It had disappeared." Patrolman Ernest Nehrer, in Car 901 also radioed to headquarters about the glow, and several other persons watched it, at least one of whom had field glasses. Sgt. Weber said he sure was glad other people saw it, too. Officials at the atomic plant said they have no equipment there that would cause such a phenomenon. But both the National Lead Co., plant operators, and the Atomic Energy Commission said investigation has started. Ralph Bardoff, director here for the Ground Observers Corps, said: "People have been seeing saucers and little green men all over this area. We're having a meeting about it Sept. 14 at the Anderson Township School." Mr. Bardoff said Air Force experts are expected to attend. |
[Ref. ls1:] LEONARD STRINGFIELD:
Leonard Stringfield tells of the numerous reports of "little green men" that followed the famous Kelly-Hopkinsville incident of August 21, 1955, with news-wires telling of a band of little ogres descending on a farmhouse. The little creatures then dropped into Cincinnati like a plague, and began infesting the communities of Winton Woods, Cumminsville, Camp Washington, Mt. Airy and Greenhills.
At the height of the furor, the police arrested 15 years-old Albert Snapp, who, clad in long-handled green-dyed underwear, admitted having fun in Cumminsville scaring his neighbors. The youth however denied leaving his neighborhood during his masquerade.
Snapp thus became the "whipping boy" for all the hooliganism, and provided the press its cue to laugh off all the reports. One incident, however, occurring in Greenhills left several question marks.
[Ref. lo1:] CORAL AND JIM LORENZEN:
The authors indicate that the defunct bulletin of the CRIFO ufology group, ORBIT, by Leonard Stringfield, of Cincinnati, Ohio, presented in the September 2, 1955 issue, an article about "little men", with no details, no names and no evidence; the authors suggest that the reader waits for Leonard Springfield's book "Inside Saucer Post 3-0 Blue" for possible further details.
[Ref. jv1:] JACQUES VALLEE:
In his UFO landings catalogue, Jacques Vallée indicates that on August 25, 1955, in Greenhills, Ohio, four adolescents in a car saw a creature with a luminous body, standing near a fireplug.
Vallée indicates that his source is "Stringfield 64."
[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:
Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Winton Woods, Ohio, on August 25, 1955, at 2245, 4 teenagers said they had seen in their car's headlights a little man 3 or 4 feet tall, with large yellow eyes, a dark face, and a glowing body. The being wore "an odd garment" and they saw a "claw like hand." The driver, 18-year old Bill Wallace, drove away in a state of terror and notified the police.
Albert Rosales indicates that the source is Ted Bloecher for CSI, and Humcat 1955-19.
[Ref. dj1:] DONALD JOHNSON:
Donald Johnson indicates that on August 26, 1955, there were three reports of unusual humanoids in Ohio, two from Hamilton County and one from Franklin County. A man from Cheviot, Ohio called Donna Meiers to tell her that he had experienced a similar incident involving a "little man" about the same time as the Winton Woods encounter.
Donald Johnson indicates that the sources for the three incidents are David F. Webb and Ted Bloecher, HUMCAT: Catalogue of Humanoid Reports, cases A0383, A0385, A0386; Cincinnati Times-Star, August 27, 1955; Leonard H. Stringfield, Inside Saucer Post... 3-0 Blue, page 63.
[Ref. ud1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
The website indicates that on August 25, 1955, at 10:45 p.m. in Winton Woods, Ohio, USA, 4 teenagers said they had seen in their car's headlights a little man, 3 or 4 feet tall, with large yellow eyes, a dark face, and a glowing body. The being wore "an odd garment" and they saw a "claw like hand." The driver, 18-year-old Bill Wallace, drove away in a state of terror and notified the police.
The website comments that "little men observed. An unidentified object at close range and its occupants were observed by four teenage witnesses on a road (Wallace, Bill; Weber)."
The website notes: "Bloecher thinks case is a hoax. Explanation: Hoax."
The website indicates that the sources are Lorenzen, Coral E. Encounters with UFO Occupants, Berkley Medallion, New York, 1976; Stringfield, Leonard H. CRIFO Newsletter and CRIFO Orbit; Bloecher, Ted R. Ted R Bloecher investigation files; Rosales, Albert S., Humanoid Contact Database; Gross, Loren E. The Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse: UFOs: A History. 1955: July-September 15, self-published, USA; Newspaper Clippings; Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, 2002.
It is very possibly that someone played a well-executed prank at the 4 teenagers.
| Id: | Topic: | Severity: | Date noted: | Raised by: | Noted by: | Description: | Proposal: | Status: |
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| None. | ||||||||
Possible prank.
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
| Main Author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Created/Changed By: | Date: | Change Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | February 20, 2008 | Creation, [cp1], [ls1], [lo1], [ar1], [dj1], [ud1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | February 20, 2008 | First published. |
