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JANUARY 26, 1965, BRAND FLATS, VIRGINIA, USA, STEVE MILLER, CHARLES WEAVER, AND OTHERS:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

In Brand Flats, near Staunton, Virginia, USA, on January 26, 1965, at about 07:30 p.m., a group of teenagers, including one Steve Miller, 16, were riding on Route 250 when they saw a little man about 3.5 feet tall who came from a field, going to the route.

The boys first did not think much of the little man, but became intrigued when he sat by the road and watched the passing cars, thinking that maybe the figure was one of the men from the flying saucers seen in the area, so the boys stopped the car to watch. It is said this little man was wearing a tight-fitted silvery looking one-piece garment.

Eventually they got out of the car and pursued the little man who ran away over a hill. Then two more little men joined the first and ran with him, easily outrunning the boys and leaving no footprints in the muddy ground.

One of the boys or the boys contacted the Staunton police and at about 9 p.m. a party of about 10 reserve police officers was on the scene, as well as a young photographer, Charles Weaver. The police party found nothing and left, whereas Weaver and an man named Huffer stayed.

Weaver approached what was described as a strange "glowing" aluminum-looking "barn" or shack, in which he entered. Eventually Huffer heard Weaver call, and Huffer then found Weaver knocked down, later claiming something struck him.

They left the barn, but as they fled, they looked back, and Weaver paused long enough to take a picture of the "barn" using the flash, and the pair "joined the other investigators". Weaver said that when he took the photograph, the flash light revealed to his eyes that one of the little men stood by the "barn". The photograph was apparently never shown.

This all was reported a few days after the close encounter of the third kind report by William Blackburn, in a context when local people and the police were on the alert for "little green men" or "Martians" and UFOs in the area. The local newspaper went as far as to publish a hoaxed picture of "little green men" and their saucer to "prove the gullibility" of their readers by revealing they hoaxed the pictures in a later issue. Eventually, Staunton sheriff John Kent reportedly said that these "Martian hunts have gotten completely out of hand" and "outlawed all saucer hunts."

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. mu1:] MUFORG BULLETIN:

[Ref. ia1:] IRA ADAMS:

[Note: in her article, Ira Adams changed all the names of all the witnesses of all the cases she told about.]

[Ref. go1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

The ufologist indicates that on January 28, 1965, in the USA, in Staunton, Virginia, a young man went to tell to the police force that he had met with his friends three small men from space and that one of his buddies had taken a photograph to prove it.

The boy, Steven, said that they were seven in a car driving by Brand Flats when they saw like a man coming out of a field in direction of the road, then seeming to examine the cars that passed by.

Remembering the stories of flying saucers in the area, he stopped the car, they came out and wanted to catch the entity who fled on the hill, where two other entities appeared.

They ran much faster than the boys, measured approximately 1 m 20 and were covered with one tight-fitting one-piece silver colored outfit.

In the field there was no footprint from the aliens. The police force sent 10 men including a photographer on the spot to investigate. At the end of one hour, having found no evidence, the police officers left but the young man remained on the spot with the photographer. They found a small shining aluminum shack where they entered, and at this time they had the impression that the shack was lifted up and they came out fast, but Wilson succeeded in taking a photograph of the shack rising up.

In the light of the flash, Wilson saw one of the small men standing close to the shack.

The ufologist comments on that all these stories coming from the source "APRG, on the Internet in May 1997", seem unbelievable to her, since here the young man claims at the beginning that one of his buddies already took a photograph, whereas in the story, it is the photographer sent by the police force who took a photograph.

[Ref. ni1:] NICAP WEBSITE:

The website indicates that on January 28, 1965, near Staunton, Virginia, USA, a Steven Houghton said he and 6 friends saw 3 little spacemen. They were driving in the Brands Flats, East of Staunton on US 250 when they saw what looked like a man walking toward the road from a field, but thought nothing of it until the man sat down near the road and seemed to be studying the cars passing by. They stopped the car and ran toward the man who dashed over a hill. Then two other little men appeared and also ran away.

The creatures were about 3.5 feet tall and were wearing one-piece skin-tight silver garments. The [witnesses] couldn't find any footprints in the muddy field where the figures were seen.

Their report to the Staunton police brought 10 reserve policemen to the scene and Charles Wildon, a photographer. The police search at 2100, an hour after the reported incident, failed to turn up anything and the officers left. Houghton and Wilson [The summary at this source ends here.]

The sources is indicated as "Internet (Ira Adams)".

[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Brands Flat, Virginia, on January 26, 1965, at 1930, a group of teenagers, including Steve Miller, 16, were riding on Route 250 near Brands Flats when they saw a little man about 3 ½ feet tall sitting by the road watching the cars passing. He was wearing a silvery looking one-piece silvery garment. They got out of the car and pursued the little man; two more joined the first and ran with him, easily outrunning the boys and leaving no footprints in the muddy ground. The group contacted the Staunton police; within an hour a group of police were on the scene, as well as a young photographer, Charles Weaver. Weaver, and a man named Huffer, approached a barn, which the photographer entered; calling out to Huffer, who found his companion knocked down. Weaver claimed something struck him. They left the barn, but as they fled, believed they saw a little man standing in front of the building; Weaver paused long enough to take a picture, and the pair joined the other investigators. The disposition of the photograph was never determined.

Albert Rosales indicates as source "Local Police and Newspaper source."

Points to consider:

On the one hand, this seems to be not very far from a humanoids sightings series with multiple witnesses in two independent groups. On the other hand, the account is somehow fragmentary and the reliability of the various witnesses and their stories remains unfathomable as obviously no ufology investigation took place, the occurrence source being unverified and incomplete local Press quotes by ufologists.

The first "little man" was reportedly by the road observing passing cars. Thus is this was true and if the little man was really out of the ordinary, people from passing cars could have been reporting seeing the little man but apparently there was no such report.

A photograph was allegedly taken, but it seems to be nowhere to see.

An impression is given that the "strange" and "glowing" "aluminum barn" or shack was not really a barn or a shack; however, whereas it would have been easy to check whether there was or was not a real barn at the place, this was apparently not checked.

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Extraterrestrial visitors, confusion or hoaxes.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [---] ? Article in the newspaper Daily Express, U-K., January 30, 1965.
• [mu1] * Article in the ufology bulletin MUFORG Bulletin, Merseyside UFO Research Group, U-K., #1, February 1965.
• [ia1] * "ET's From???", electronic text by Ira Adams, USA, via the Internet, 1993.
• [go1] * "Chronologie OVNI", web page by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 1999, at users.skynet.be/sky84985/chron16.html
• [ni1] * "Occupant Database", web page compiled by the NICAP Website, USA, circa 2003, at www.nicap.org/Occupant.htm
• [ar1] * "1965 Humanoid Reports", compiled by Albert Rosales, circa 2007, at www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1965.shtml

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This page was last updated on August 20, 2008