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The article below was published in the daily newspaper Columbus Dispatch, Columbus, Ohio, USA, on September 24, 1973.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (UPI)-An unidentified flying object blinked its spotlights twice Sunday night, then disappeared into the darkness with a whirring noise, according to Shelby County Sheriff's Deputy P. L. Pilalas.
Pilalas said he and his partner, J. O. Davis, were driving on U.S. 70 just east of Memphis when they saw the craft hovering overhead. Two bright spotlights were shining beams straight forward from the craft's altitude of 500 to 1,000 feet, he said, and two red lights were glowing at the extremities of the craft.
"We couldn't see the craft itself, but only its lights," he said.
"I flashed my spotlight on the vehicle which appeared to be traveling with us at about 15 m.p.h."
Federal Aviation Administration officials at Memphis International Airport said they could detect no crafts in the area on their radar screens and had no record of any flights that were supposed to be in the area.
"We let our blue light (on the police car) shine twice and then stopped," Pilalas said. "The vehicle then flashed its white beams twice and then both the white lights and red lights went out.
"It just disappeared. It made a whirring-type noise for about 30 seconds to a minute, then it was gone."
At least three other UFO sightings were reported in the Memphis area late Sunday night and early Monday.
